ALBANY - You can tell a lot about a state or a region based on where people work.
New York is home to more than 500,000 private-sector employers, according to the state Department of Labor.
But which companies are employing the most New Yorkers?
Think retail. Think groceries. Think health care.
As many workers across the state take Monday off for Labor Day, here's a look at the top 10 private-sector employers in New York and each region of the state, as compiled by researchers at the state Department of Labor.
The state's analysis, which is based off data from 2016, isn't exact: Private employers aren't required to say how many employees they have, and the state doesn't publish its estimates of how many people work at each employer.
But the top 10 lists — which lists the employers alphabetically — do provide a window into where New Yorkers are working and what industries are popular in each region.
Statewide
• Home Depot
• JPMorgan Chase Bank
• Macy's Retail Holdings, Inc.
• McDonald's
• Mount Sinai Health System
• New York-Presbyterian University Hospital
• Northwell Health, Inc.
• Stop & Shop Supermarkets
• Walmart
• Wegmans Food Markets
When it comes to the top private-sector employers statewide, health care and retail rule the day.
It's not surprising that many of New York's top private-sector employers are chains that control dozens or hundreds of locations in the state.
Walmart, for example, says it has 37,267 employees at its 111 locations throughout New York, which make it a top 10 employer in all but two of the state's 10 labor market regions, according to the Labor Department.
Macy's has about 19,900 employees at its 76 stores in the state, which also include Bloomingdale's and Bluemercury stores.
And Home Depot says it has 20,300 employees at its 100 New York stores.
Ted Potrikus, president and CEO of the Retail Council of New York State, which represents retailers, said the industry is important not only for the number of people it employs but the sales tax it generates for the state and counties.
"Retail is the economy at street level," Potrikus said. "You could probably go to 10 people on the street and seven of them would say their first job was in retail or they worked at some point in retail."
McDonald's and JPMorgan Chase Bank also get on the list by pure volume: The fast-food chain has 630 locations throughout the state, while the bank has 702 branches and its global headquarters in Manhattan.
Wegmans, the Rochester-based supermarket chain, and Stop & Shop, which has a big presence downstate, are the state's two largest grocery chains and make the top 10.
The rest of the top 10 — which, again, is the Labor Department's most-recent estimate and based on 2016 data — are all giants in the health care field downstate, representing major networks in New York City and its suburbs.
"It's something we've known for a long time: Health care is a tremendously important part of the state's economy," said Helen Schaub, New York director of policy and legislation for 1199SEIU, which represents 300,000 health care workers across the state.
"In New York and nationally, it's been part of a big shift from manufacturing and other types of jobs to what are broadly termed service sector but would include health care."
Western New York
Counties: Erie, Allegany, Cattaraugus, Chautauqua and Niagara
• BlueCross BlueShield of Western New York
• Computer Task Group, Inc.
• General Motors
• Kaleida Health
• M&T Bank Corp.
• Mercy Hospital of Buffalo
• People Inc.
• Tops Friendly Markets
• Walmart
• Wegmans Food Markets
M&T Bank is headquartered in Buffalo, where it has a major downtown presence as it expands in the state and beyond.
Finger Lakes
Counties: Monroe, Genesee, Livingston, Ontario, Orleans, Seneca, Wayne, Wyoming and Yates
• Carestream Health, Inc.
• Rochester General Hospital
• Rochester Institute of Technology
• Sutherland Global Services
• Tops Friendly Markets
• Unity Hospital of Rochester
• University of Rochester/URMC
• Walmart
• Wegmans Food Markets
• Xerox
The Finger Lakes region, as defined by the Department of Labor, is centered on the city of Rochester and Monroe County.
Unsurprisingly, the top private-sector employers include the higher-education institutes and hospitals that anchor the region and Wegmans, the supermarket chain that calls it home.
Tops Friendly Markets, meanwhile, filed for bankruptcy protection earlier this year and announced recently it would close 10 stores, including five in the Rochester area.
Hudson Valley
Counties: Dutchess, Orange, Putnam, Rockland, Sullivan, Ulster and Westchester
• Crystal Run Healthcare
• Home Depot
• IBM Corp.
• Nyack Hospital
• Orange Regional Medical Center
• Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
• ShopRite Supermarkets
• Stop & Shop Supermarkets
• Walmart
• Westchester Medical Center
Health care, retail and groceries -- sensing the trend?
All of those industries are represented well in the Hudson Valley's top 10 list, along with Regenron — the major biotech company headquartered in Tarrytown — and IBM, which is headquartered in Armonk.
Southern Tier
Counties: Broome, Chemung, Chenango, Delaware, Schuyler, Steuben, Tioga and Tompkins
• Amphenol Aerospace
• Arnot Ogden Medical Center
• BAE Systems Inc.
• Cornell University
• Ithaca College
• Lockheed Martin Corp.
• Lourdes Hospital
• United Health Services
• Walmart
• Wegmans Food Markets
Ithaca's two major colleges — Cornell University and Ithaca College — anchor the northern part of this region, driving the economy there.
Amphenol, BAE and Lockheed are major players in the national security industry and have a significant presence in the southern portion of the region.
One mysterious omission? Corning Inc., the multinational materials science company based in Steuben County. There was no immediate comment from the Labor Department on why the company wasn't included on the list.
Capital Region
Counties: Albany, Columbia, Greene, Rensselaer, Saratoga, Schenectady, Warren and Washington
• Albany Medical Center
• Bechtel Marine Propulsion Corp.
• Center For Disability Services
• Ellis Hospital
• General Electric Co.
• GlobalFoundries
• Hannaford Supermarkets
• Price Chopper
• St. Peter's Hospital
• Walmart
Hospitals and groceries dominate the list in the Albany region, which is home to Golub Corp., Price Chopper's parent company.
The region is, of course, home to many public-sector employees as capital of New York; this list is limited to private sector.
Central New York
Counties: Cayuga, Cortland, Madison, Onondaga and Oswego
• Crouse Hospital
• Lockheed Martin Corp.
• Loretto Health and Rehabilitation Center
• National Grid
• Price Chopper
• St. Joseph's Hospital Health Center
• Syracuse University
• Tops Friendly Markets
• Walmart
• Wegmans Food Markets
Along with the array of health care providers and chain stores, Syracuse University is a major employer in its home city.
Long Island
Counties: Nassau and Suffolk
• Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc.
• Good Samaritan Hospital Medical Center.
• Hofstra University
• Home Depot
• King Kullen
• Northwell Health, Inc.
• Prestige Employee Administrators
• ProHEALTH Care, Inc.
• Stop & Shop Supermarkets
• Winthrop-University Hospital
New York City
• American Airlines
• Columbia University
• JPMorgan Chase
• Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
• Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital
• Mount Sinai Hospital
• New York-Presbyterian Hospital
• Nielsen Company
• Northwell Health, Inc.
• Verizon
New York City, of course, is home to some of the largest companies and health care systems in the world, and it's reflected in its top 10 list.
Long Island and New York City are also notable for what's not on their list: Walmart.
They're the only two labor market regions in the state that do not count the big-box retailer among their top 10 employers, with New York City home to zero Walmart stores.
Mohawk Valley
Counties: Fulton, Herkimer, Montgomery, Oneida, Otsego and Schoharie
• A.O. Fox Hospital
• Bassett Healthcare Network
• Faxton-St. Luke's Healthcare
• Hannaford Supermarket
• Metropolitan Life Insurance Co.
• Price Chopper
• St. Elizabeth Medical Center
• St. Mary's Hospital
• Utica National Insurance Group
• Walmart
No surprises here: Lots of retail, health care and two insurance companies.
North Country
Counties: Clinton, Essex, Franklin, Hamilton, Jefferson, Lewis and St. Lawrence
• Canton-Potsdam Hospital
• Claxton-Hepburn Medical Center
• Champlain Valley Physicians Hospital Medical Center
• International Paper Co.
• Kinney Drugs
• McDonald's
• Price Chopper
• Samaritan Medical Center
• St. Lawrence University
• Walmart
The North Country is the expansive area including the Adirondack Park and the state's northernmost points.
The International Paper Co. owns a mill in Ticonderoga, where it makes high-end paper products and is one of the region's biggest employers.
Includes reporting by Chad Arnold of the USA TODAY Network's Albany Bureau.